"Hmm… where to start… This town's name is called Arkala and the n.o.ble house that watches over this place is the house of Utar. The closest surrounding towns are Romsey and Rochdale. You can get to them with two days' worth of carriage rides." The barman started off.

"As for anything that's been happening, word on the street says that last night, the young master of the Utar was killed by a slave he had bought. Ironic really, that guy was never a decent human being." He shrugged whilst grabbing a new cup to polish.

"Hou~… Seems like you don't really like the young master of the Utar family." s.h.i.+ro raised an eyebrow.

"Nah, no one does. Especially women. If he has his eyes on anyone pretty, even if they're married, he'll capture the woman and have his way with them. Unfortunately, every time the inspectors came, he was always able to hide the evidence so they can't do anything to the b.a.s.t.a.r.d. You're lucky young lady, if you had been a day earlier, I'm sure the b.a.s.t.a.r.d would have sent his men over to grab you."

"Hahaha, thank you for the warning. I'll watch out." s.h.i.+ro responded with a smile.

"So do you know a place called Silvermoon Keep? I was heading over there and had gotten lost on my journey."

"Hmm… Silvermoon Keep… Could you be on about one of the most fortified towers in the country?"

"If there aren't any other Silvermoon Keeps, I believe this should be the one."

"In that case then I suggest you rethink your journey. Rumour has it that a band of evil cultists have made the place their home. Not only that, but none of the official soldiers had managed to retake the keep due to how fortified it is. Not to mention the fact that the cultists somehow recruited quite a few talented mages into their midst. No one knows what the situation is like at the moment but all we know is that we powerless people should avoid that place at all costs."

"Is that so… then do you know a place where I can buy a map of the entire place?"

"A map? Just go down the streets and turn left. Continue down the road and you'll eventually see an old man wearing a straw hat, straw bag and a broomstick. His name is Derrick and you can buy a map off him for 5 silvers. It's expensive but the maps drawn by him are worth it."

"Thank you, tell you what, give me another ale of yours and this time I'll pay for it." s.h.i.+ro smiled.

"Alright, that'll be 50 coppers." He replied and made another cup of ale.

Paying the money, s.h.i.+ro chugged down the ale and walked out of the bar.

"d.a.m.n… that ladies got a stomach for ale alright." The barman muttered in appreciation before continuing his job.

Following the barman's instructions, s.h.i.+ro found old man Derrick by the rivers.

"Excuse me, are you Derrick?" s.h.i.+ro asked politely.

"This one is called Derrick. How can I help you, young miss?" He responded with a kind smile.

"I would like to purchase a map if that's possible."

"Of course, where to?"

"Silvermoon Keep."

"Hmm, I'd suggest you avoid that place. Word is that evil cultists have taken over the keep and the army can't do anything about it." He frowned slightly.

"I know. But I have urgent matters there so I must go."

"Hais… fine. A map for Silvermoon Keep. You should know my price right?" He said whilst shuffling through his bag and grabbed a tied up scroll labelled 'Silvermoon Keep'.

"Yes I do, 5 silvers is that correct?" She asked and handed over the money.

Receiving the map to Silvermoon Keep, s.h.i.+ro walked away and unravelled the map.

'Hmm… There are two stops before I can get to Silvermoon Keep. Roughly 3 days of travel in total between locations.' She thought whilst observing the map.

To get to Silvermoon Keep, she had to travel to the town of Hythe first. After arriving at Hythe, she'll need to then travel towards the west, towards Norbury before she could reach Silvermoon Keep.

If she was fast with her travels, she'd arrive there in 3 days provided that she doesn't take any breaks. If she was slow, it may take up to a whole week before she could arrive at her destination.

That being said, she wasn't sure if the last carriage would even go to Silvermoon Keep from all the rumours she had heard. With the town's folk recommending her to avoid the keep, she doubts the carriages would take her there.

"Which means I can take two carriages to Norbury and then everything else will be on foot." s.h.i.+ro concluded.

Storing the map away, she made her way to the stables, in hopes of hitching a ride towards Hythe first.

When she arrived at the stables, she saw a small sized caravan recruiting for some bodyguards.

"Excuse me, are you perhaps going to Hythe?" s.h.i.+ro asked the recruiter.

"Mn? Yeah we are. But our carriages are already full. Plus, we're only looking for bodyguards now. I doubt a young lady like yourself can fight well so maybe next time." He replied as he heard her voice. He couldn't see her face clearly since she only reached his lower chest in height.

"About that, I'm an Ice Mage looking to join some people to Hythe. I can work as a bodyguard if that's ok with you." s.h.i.+ro replied, not minding the fact that he thought she couldn't fight.

"A mage? You?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Take your hood down, I'll need you to demonstrate your magic and record you into the register if that's the case."

s.h.i.+ro nodded and flipped her hood down. Her white hair flowed out behind her as the people of the caravan were shocked at her beauty.

"What kind of magic do you want me to demonstrate? Defensive type or attack type?" She asked.

"Ah ehem. If you can demonstrate both, that'll be great." He replied as he tried to suppress the blush that had crept up on his face.

"Hm, alright." s.h.i.+ro nodded.

Stepping back a little, she made sure that there was some s.p.a.ce around her. Stomping down, s.h.i.+ro created rows of ice walls around her in an instant.

The recruiter was shocked at the activation time since it was common knowledge that mages needed to not only chant, but also charge up their spells. He had never heard of mages that could cast spells without chanting. Not only that, but the magic took effect almost instantly.

*Click!

Snapping her fingers, s.h.i.+ro cast an attack type spell this time.

Several ice spikes materialised in the air as they pointed towards the recruiter, threatening to pierce him.

"You pa.s.s!" He said as he silently wiped his sweat away.

Mages were powerful but weren't feared due to their slow cast time and predictable spells. This allowed warriors to approach the mages during this moment and kill them with ease.

However, the situation would be completely flipped if the mage could perform like what s.h.i.+ro demonstrated.

'If mages were all like her, the demand for warrior would collapse.' He thought as he couldn't even imagine what battlefields would be like if mages were all like the young girl in front of him.

Thawing the ice around her, s.h.i.+ro waited patiently for him to finish her registration.

"Here's your ident.i.ty pa.s.s for this trip. Just write your name on it and then we'll discuss your wages." He said whilst handing her a wooden plate and brush.

Writing her name down, she pa.s.sed the brush back to the recruiter.

"So the wages are 40 silvers for the whole trip from here to Hythe. Food is provided. We'll stop during the night with the guards taking night s.h.i.+fts in case of monster attacks. Would that be fine?" He asked. Usually, the bodyguards would get only 20 silvers, but for someone of s.h.i.+ro's talents, he knew he had to double the price if he wanted to recruit her.

Little did he know, even if he offered her nothing, she would have joined anyways.

One of the reasons for her to join the caravan instead of running there herself was due to the fact that she wanted to see if she could ask for some information about the cult and some context to this world from the other bodyguards.

She would have a better chance of success if she knew the full situation after all.

"That's fine. So how long till we set off boss?" She asked with a small smile.

"We'll be leaving once we get two more bodyguards along with some routine checks on the goods that we're transporting." He replied.

"You can join the other bodyguards and we'll call for you once we're ready."

Looking towards where he had pointed, she saw 7 other people waiting patiently, all equipped with armour and weapons.

'So for a caravan of this size, they're opting to take 10 bodyguards with them on the journey.' She thought when she saw the group.

Currently, the group had 2 tanks, 3 attackers, a mage and what seems to be a healer.

"h.e.l.lo. I'm s.h.i.+ro, an Ice Mage." s.h.i.+ro greeted with a smile. The moment she saw the healer, she had the idea of learning healing arts from her.

Since she doubts Silvia wants to join her group after she killed her friends, either she gets another healer or learn some healing arts by herself. Enough so that they could sustain the party for now.

Unfortunately, the party members didn't share the same feelings as her since 6 out of the 7 members just ignored her.

"Um hi. I'm called Reyna. I er am responsible for um healing the party." Reyna replied a little timidly.

She had long brown hair that wasn't tied up at all. The length of the hair reached past her waist while the bangs framed her face. While her face wasn't that of an ethereal beauty like s.h.i.+ro's, it was definitely beautiful in its own right.

As for her outfit, it was a priest robe that was mainly coloured white with red streaks along the edges.

[Reyna LVL 35 - Priest]

Suppressing her repulsion towards the outfit and the fact that she was clearly linked to a church of some kind, s.h.i.+ro shook hands with Reyna.

"So Reyna, what kind of healing magic do you use? Are they single target or area of effects?" s.h.i.+ro asked with a small smile.

"Erm I use a mix of both. Though I'm more specialised in area of effect." She replied, a little taken aback by her question.

"Ah I see. You'll be very handy in large scale battles then." s.h.i.+ro complimented.

She needed to b.u.t.ter up Reyna first before she could ask her to teach her some healing magic.

"Ah thank you."

s.h.i.+ro did try to strike up a conversation with the other members but they either just blushed or tried their best to look away.

'Well aren't they the talkative bunch.' s.h.i.+ro thought as they were about to set off soon.

The last two bodyguards the caravan had recruited were both warriors.

However, out of everyone here, s.h.i.+ro's goal was Reyna and only Reyna. The others didn't provide her with enough benefits that warranted her to give them more attention. So after one failed attempt at striking up a conversation, s.h.i.+ro completely ignored them and left them to their down devices.

"Alright, we're setting off!" The recruiter shouted out as the 'team' of ten stood up and surrounded the caravans.

s.h.i.+ro hopped on one of the carriages and sat down on the roof. Due to the fact that she was, in his opinion, the strongest mage amongst them. The recruiter ignored this and allowed her to stay on the roof of the carriages.

Throwing a lollipop in her mouth, s.h.i.+ro sated her hunger for a bit since she wasn't able to find anyone selling mana stones in the town. This made it hard for her to feed herself so she could only settle with the remaining pile of lollipops in her inventory.

The journey was rather smooth sailing with only the occasional monster trying to attack the caravan.

However, they were dealt with easily by the other guards. s.h.i.+ro didn't even need to move from her spot on the roof.

"So Reyna, what's your reason for joining this caravan? Or are you perhaps in a party with the other members?" s.h.i.+ro asked as she offered Reyna a lollipop.

Reyna accepted the strange looking candy and placed it in her mouth. She was surprised at how sweet the lollipop was and couldn't help but glance at s.h.i.+ro curiously. Everyone knew that sugar was expensive and that not many households would use sugar like how s.h.i.+ro has. If she had to describe it, it was like she was eating a hardened ball of sugar.

Tasty but at the same time very wasteful.

"I'm a lone adventurer. Normally I would just join a few random parties to earn some money for myself. And since I'm a healer. I'm accepted into parties quite often." Reyna replied as she realised she finished her lollipop already.

The fact that she could bite into the lollipop and taste the sweetness spread through her mouth made her drool for more.

 Chuckling at the fact that she was basically wearing her emotions on her face, s.h.i.+ro handed her two more lollipops.

Hopefully, she'll be able to get Reyna to teach her some healing magic before the trip ends.